UEFA Champions Festival breaks digital ground

The 2012 UEFA Champions Festival is taken to a larger global audience than ever before through innovative digital activity, including live streaming of the Ultimate Champions match for the first time.

During the free four-day football celebration leading up to the UEFA Champions League final, UEFA will use key digital platforms such as Google+, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Foursquare as well as a free Android smartphone application to share unique content from the UEFA Champions Festival in Munich with fans around the world.

In a world-first for UEFA, the Ultimate Champions match will be streamed live across UEFA.com, Google+ and YouTube. The match will feature European footballing legends such as Cafu, Fabio Cannavaro, Patrick Vieira, Samuel Eto’o, Gianfranco Zola and Roy Makaay.

In addition, UEFA is launching a groundbreaking global Foursquare campaign. This global activation will engage fans at the festival and around the world. Additionally, fans can ‘check in’ anywhere they are watching the 2012 UEFA Champions League final by using the phrase ‘UEFA Champions League’ as a shout and can unlock the official Foursquare UEFA Champions League final badge.

Alexandre Fourtoy, UEFA’s Director of Communications, said: “This is going to be a true digital festival. Our goal is to engage fans in Munich, as well as those around the world, in the UEFA Champions League final festivities by using a range of digital platforms that are easy to use and interact with. We hope that the new Foursquare activation coupled with Google+ hangouts will bring the finals of the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Women’s Champions League to life for those fans who can’t attend the event.”

The UEFA Champions Festival takes place in Munich’s Olympiapark from 16-19 May and features a host of activities that are free for all to enjoy. The schedule includes the UEFA Women’s Champions League final on Thursday 17 May, free live music entertainment from acts such as Aloe Blacc, Sunrise Avenue and Jose Padilla, creator of Café del Mar compilations, throughout the week and the official UEFA public viewing of the UEFA Champions League final which kicks off at 20.45CET on Saturday 19 May.

UEFA has teamed up with Google+ to engage fans with numerous interactive activities throughout this four-day festival, including giant photo booths with a direct link to Google+, enabling fans to share photos with their friends. In addition, ex-Chelsea FC defenders Graeme Le Saux and Celestine Babayaro will both be dropping in for Google+ hangouts, as will ambassador Steffi Jones for the inside track on the UEFA Women’s Champions League final.

This digital campaign will ensure that the estimated 60,000 fans attending the festival, as well as the millions of UEFA Champions League fans around the world, can interact with the events and share experiences online.

A new Android app dedicated to the festival and the 2012 UEFA Women’s Champions League final will allow fans to interact with the events on the ground. The app will feature interactive maps and schedules and will also include an option for users to queue-jump to have their photo taken with the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Women’s Champions League trophies. Fans not attending the festival will be able to follow the live social stream with daily updates and pictures from Twitter, Facebook and Google+, as well as create a souvenir photo to share with friends with framed in a Munich look and feel. The app can be downloaded on Google Play by searching for UEFA Champions Festival.

A comprehensive UEFA Champions Festival Facebook tab has been launched and videos featuring interviews with stars will be posted on the UEFA YouTube channel daily, helping to ensure international fans do not miss out on the action.

UEFA.com will also be asking fans to get involved with #Ask interview sessions with UEFA Champions Festival ambassador Willy Sagnol and his former FC Bayern München team-mate, and UEFA Champions League winner in 2001, Giovane Elber. Also in the hot-seat will be Steve McManaman and Christian Karembeu, both European champions in Real Madrid CF colours. Follow @UEFAcom on Twitter to get involved.

UEFA will be tweeting daily from the festival using #championsfestival along with #championsleague to share the festivities.

For more information about how fans around the world can interact with the celebrations in Munich, please visit https://www.facebook.com/uefachampionsleague.

The UEFA word, the UEFA logo and all marks related to UEFA competitions, are protected by trade marks and/or copyright of UEFA. No use for commercial purposes may be made of such trade marks. Use of UEFA.com signifies your agreement to the Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.